updated 10:00 am EDT, Fri October 13, 2006

Vista Changes for EU

Microsoft has reluctantly made concessions to the European Commission and the South Korean government in order to release Windows Vista on time, according to a Reuters report. In what the software company would only call "constructive dialogue," Microsoft has altered features of its future OS to help prevent possible violations of competition laws in Europe and Korea. The company would not divulge specific details of what had been changed, but sources speaking to Reuters say that the primary difference is the ability to remove built-in Microsoft applications and replace them with software from third parties.

This would take the concessions a step further than was the case for Windows XP, whose eventual concessions involved only the option of changing program defaults and a limited edition for Europe that removed Windows Media Player. Depending on the exact terms, these updates may satisfy competitors Adobe and Symantec, which have lobbied the European Commission to demand action against what they claim is Microsoft's abuse of its OS monopoly in the anti-virus and document markets.